Sanna Chu Ramzi Khoury.

As noted yesterday, the inaugural NYC’s New Music Festival will see over 130 acts across 24 stages around the East and West Village. The performers are coming in from all over the country, but a few, like folk-rock musician Ramzi Khoury, are based in the East Village.

Mr. Khoury, 33, grew up in California – playing trumpet in elementary school and picking up guitar in high school – and came to the East Village because, he said, “it’s got a lot of good arts and music.” His debut album was “Color”; a subsequent EP, “Champagne and Cigarettes,” yielded the above video, for the song “2nd Avenue,” in which an actor is jerked around the East Village at the whim of Google maps (and you thought the iPhone 5’s maps were maddening). The Local spoke to the musician in Unions Square Park.

Do you have a day job?

For the longest time I didn’t, but six months ago I started working for a technology company. Does it interfere with my music? More so than I thought it would. But I do play my guitar every night when I get home.

What do you think of the East Village music scene?

Honestly, I like it a lot. I have a band that plays with me now. We play all over the city but we focus primarily on the East Village – not just because I’m lazy and I don’t want to go around the city, but there’s still the best venues I can think of: the Rockwood Music Hall, Living Room; we play National Underground a lot. As a musician you still feel the energy around you and that there’s going to be good musicians around. It’s somewhat of a relief.

Do you know any fellow musicians who live in the neighborhood?

No [laughs]. It’s always a tradeoff. The reason why I love the East Village is that everything is around and it’s palpable: you can feel the energy and creativity, and I like being in the middle of that even when it’s at the sacrifice of paying a higher rent.

What other benefits do you see in living here?

I feel a sense of pride of living in the East Village. There’s something in seeing these venues and playing in them on a regular basis, you get a more insider look than if you just come to play every once in a while.

Do you have a favorite East Village guitar store?

I go to Rivington Street Guitars a lot. They’re knowledgeable and friendly guys. But I had to do some repairs on my guitar recently, and I found someone who’s been in the East Village a really long time who used to own a shop, Richie’s Guitars. He works from his home now but what’s funny is that fellow musicians all knew about him. They’re like, “You have to go to him, he’s the best.” It looks like a guitar store in his living room.

Do you perform on the street?

I wouldn’t say it’s a regular thing but I’ve played in the subway, Union Square, just out on street corners. I like it because it’s a rush in a different way. I guess once you’ve been on stage enough you don’t get that stage fright. In new situations you get that adrenaline rush that you lose after time.

Has anything bad ever happened to you during a street performance?

I’ve been lucky. The first time I tried to play in Union Square, even though I had seen people play with amplifiers before, I was half a second into unpacking my amplifier when three cops came out of nowhere and said, “You can’t play with amplification in the park.” But I’ve never had anyone try to take money from my bag or steal my guitar.

How did you get that endorsement from Scarlett Johansson on your website?

That’s one of the cool things about living in New York. We had a show six months ago at the National Underground so we played our set and afterwards my friends told me that Scarlett Johansson was sitting at the end of the bar with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I felt like I should say something. And she was like, “Oh you were great.”

Your video for “2nd Avenue” is very inventive. How did that come about?

The director [Joe Gabriel] came up with the idea of using Google maps. We were actually contacted by Google about two weeks afterward. It was funny, we went out of our way not to use any of the actual Google maps because we didn’t want to infringe on anything, and they contacted us right after we put it out and they were like, “Hey we like the video and would love to promote it but it has to have real Google things in it.” So then we went back and put the real Google images in.

Ramzi Khoury will be play at the Bitter End on Sunday, Sept. 30 as part of the New Music Festival.